Enterprise resource planning software, business software, and software in general are often very complex, presenting countless screens of information to a user. The screens of information often contain a multitude of fields, some of which are rarely or never used by the user and serve to distract the user from the important controls on the screen. Furthermore, even those controls that are considered to be important are often presented in a different order from the order in which they are used. Controls are often presented in a manner where visual cues such as font size and color are absent or even misleading with respect to communicating importance.
Often, this plethora of fields stems from the fact that the software is designed to be versatile, supporting a wide variety of possible uses for different customers. However, while the software has been built to make everything possible, the effect is that it does nothing particularly well. The end result is that the software is difficult and confusing to use, difficult for new users to learn, and difficult for temporary or fill-in users to perform roles outside of their normal responsibilities. Excessive time and money are spent on training and productivity is decreased.
With the advent and proliferation of mobile and wearable interfaces, the problem has been even more pronounced. A desktop computer having a surplus of superfluous controls may be distracting. However, on a smart watch or a smart phone, such a surplus of superfluous controls can render an application completely unusable.